


Messing with the Timeline

by lilredd3394



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Dark Jack, Female Jack, Future, Gen, Human!Jack, Jack's sister Emma, Manny showing the guardians how important Jack is to them, Mild torture, Past, Violence, and everything in between, fem!Jack, messing with the timeline, more tags as more chapters are added, present, several different versions of Jack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-13
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-04 13:20:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1081487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilredd3394/pseuds/lilredd3394
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I wish you had never become Jack Frost!” Aster yelled out of anger......</p><p>“I want to be Jackson Overland again....I can’t take being Jack Frost anymore.....Please, I’m begging you, make me human again.”</p><p>Manny sends the guardians through several different times lines to show them not only what Jack means to them, but what they mean to Jack.</p><p>(Title originally <i>Back in Time</i>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Was it a dream?

“I wish you had never become Jack Frost!” Aster yelled out of anger, the winter sprite had once again completely frozen over Easter. The entire country was covered in three feet of snow and ice with blizzards still raging around. It was almost worse than the blizzard of ’68, and that was something he didn’t realize was possible. The Pooka saw the shocked look pass across the sprite’s face, before Jack clenched his staff tighter and flew off. Aster turned to look at the frozen town; he would have to find places for his eggs that were indoors this year instead of outside. 

OoO

Jack landed on his lake in Burgress and looked up at the moon “I’ve been a guardian for three years already, Aster still hates me, Tooth has finally stopped fawning over my teeth and North is too busy to pay me any attention.” He said clutching his staff “I wish I was human, then they wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore and I won’t have the chance to ruin Easter, even if both times I was trying to protect myself.” 

The snow queen had been after him for many years, she had her trolls come after him this time. They were bigger than he was so he had to cause a blizzard to protect himself, even then it barely worked. By the time Aster had gotten there, the trolls were defeated, their bodies mixing with the feet of snow already on the ground. 

Jack pulled his hood up “I want to be Jackson Overland again, and be with Emma and my mom,” he said softly “I can’t take being Jack Frost anymore, all it’s ever done was get me beat up and bullied. Please, I’m begging you, make me human again.” 

OoO

“Jack! Come on, wake up!” a young girl said as she shook her brother’s shoulders, Jack had been sleeping for a week. Her mother had told her to let him rest and recover after he fell into the lake, she had managed to get him out of the water and back home before any real damage was done. 

Jack groaned and slowly opened his eyes, he looked over at the girl “Emma?” he asked curiously, that can’t be right, Emma had died a long time ago of old age “You’re alive?” 

“Of course I’m alive, Jack!” Emma said hugging him tightly “You saved me from the ice, I managed to get you out and warmed up enough. The doctor said you’ll probably have hypothermia, but you’ll make a full recovery.” 

“I had the weirdest dream, Emma,” Jack said as she helped him sit up “I died in the lake and the Man in the Moon revived me, I became Jack Frost. I met The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the Sandman.” He looked over at his sister “It was amazing, I could fly with the help of the wind and I could control snow and ice. I was the Guardian of Fun.” 

Emma smiled “The Easter Bunny!” she said excitedly “What did he look like? And the Tooth fairy?”

Jack laughed “The Easter Bunny is a six foot tall Pooka, he’s the last of his kind as well.” He said happily “Tooth fairy, she’s actually part hummingbird so she really looks like a fairy. Santa Claus goes by North, and his Russian with tattoos on his arms.”

“And the sandman?” 

“He’s a small guy made completely of gold sand, he can’t talk but he creates images with his sand. The same sand that brings kids their good dreams,” Jack said looking at his sister “They’re a group called the guardians, they protect the children of the world.” 

“That’s some dream you had, Jack,” Emma said hugging his brother tightly “but I should tell mom that you’re awake, she’s been worried sick about you.”

“How long have I been asleep?” Jack asked softly. 

“about a week,” Emma said standing up “You have to stay in bed longer though, your body is still recovering.” 

Jack nodded and watched his sister leave the room, he glanced over at the mirror on the wall. His hair wasn’t white anymore; it was brown as well as his eyes. Which meant that either the entire thing was just a dream like he told his sister or the Man in the Moon changed the past making him human. That brought up another question, would the guardians still remember him? 


	2. Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day after Manny turned back time....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance for any grammar errors. The chapters are longer than I'm used to making them, so writing them will take a couple extra days. Plus since I'm on winter break from College, I have my job that I have to do as well. Each chapter will be a day, and I promise that the chapters will get more interesting after this one. This was more so they're getting used to the changes that have just happened as well as figuring out what's going on. I'm open to suggestions about what to change to make things better. 
> 
> ~Brii

Aster groaned as he slowly woke up, his head was throbbing. He had been walking away from Burgress when everything went dark. His first thought was Pitch, but they defeated him a while ago and he won’t be resurfacing anytime soon. He slowly got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his….wait….dirt? The Pooka looked down at the ground, there was no snow. ‘But there were three feet of snow when I passed out,’ he thought as he looked around, the tall building of Burgress were no longer there either. They were now smaller wooden houses that could fit maybe five people inside if you’re lucky. He tapped his foot against the ground and jumped down the hole, he needed to talk to North and gather the guardians. 

OoO

“North!” 

North winced and opened his eyes, he blinked a few times before sitting up “bozhe moy” he said rubbing his head; he had been going to talk to the Yeti’s when he suddenly blacked out. He glanced over “Bunny?” he asked seeing the gray Pooka standing next to him “what happened?” 

“I was hoping you could tell me, I was in Burgress when I blacked out,” Aster said helping the Russian to his feet “but it changed, mate, Burgress isn’t the same town as it was before I blacked out. It’s like its back in the colonial era.” 

North tapped his chin in thought “We will have to send for all guardians, we must get to the bottom of this.” He said walking over to the globe, he grabbed the lever and pushed the large button in. He looked up at the hole just in time to see the Aurora’s shoot out across the sky. “We wait now, they will come soon.” He said sitting down at the meeting table. 

OoO

Toothiana woke to her fairies panicking around her, she shot to a sitting position and looked around “Lateral incisors, sector 2…wait….that boy lost his tooth a long time ago.” She got to her feet and looked around, her palace looked the same, but if a boy just lost a tooth she’s had for a couple hundred years. Then something must be wrong. She looked out the window to see the aurora moving across the sky. She shot out of the room and started towards Santoff Clausen. 

When she arrived, the rest of the guardians were already there. She moved to her seat and sat down “North, what’s going on?” she said getting everyone’s attention “A boy just lost a tooth today, but I collected that tooth three hundred years ago.” 

North blinked “That would explain why Burgress has gone back to the colonial era, and why everyone blacked out for a period of time.” He said standing up “but we should wait for Jack to make the final decision on what’s going on.” 

“Jack’s not here yet?” Tooth asked looking at North “But he’s always here before I am, maybe he’s still in Burgress.” 

“The question that’s bugging me is what happened three hundred years ago that would send us back?” Aster asked looking at each of the guardians “If we can figure out what that is, then we can figure out how to fix it.” 

Sandy thought for a second before making shapes above his head, one of them was Jack in his colonial outfit and the other was him as Jack Frost. 

Aster watched the shapes as the colonial one rose through sand ice “Jack became Jack Frost?” he asked earning a nod from Sandy “So if we’re back three hundred years to where Jack becomes Jack Frost, what are the chances that he never became Jack Frost?” 

“What are you saying, Bunny?” Toothiana asked looking at the Pooka 

“Before this happened I was in Burgress, I got mad at Jack because he covered the town in three feet of snow the day before Easter. He had promised that he wouldn’t do it anymore, and I let my anger get the best of me.” Aster said softly “I told him that I wished he had never become Jack Frost.” 

“and now it’s probably happened,” North said softly “If that is the case, then we must find Jack and see if he remembers anything of his life as Jack Frost.” 

“And if he doesn’t?” Aster asked looking over at him “then what?” 

“We let him live his life as a human, just like he was supposed to do. We cannot interfere with his life if he can’t remember us.” North said looking at the guardians “but the future will be different if that is the case, we would never have been able to defeat Pitch without Jack. So that will be a battle we will most likely lose without him.” 

“then we need to find him and get his powers back,” Aster said standing up “The sooner the better.” 

“we have to do it without the other children seeing us, only Jack can know we’re real.” North said looking at the Pooka. 

“Then we find a way to separate him from the other children, and I might know how.” Aster said with a smile. 

OoO

Jack was finally allowed out of bed after the doctor checked up on him. He was bundled as warmly as his mother could possibly get him. “Mom, I’m just going hunting.” He said around the scarf his mother had just wrapped around his neck “you’re going to give me Hyperthermia next.” 

“What’s Hyperthermia?” Anna asked looking down at her son in confusion. 

“It’s the opposite of Hypothermia, except it’s when you get too hot.” Jack explained, he had gotten it all the time as Jack Frost since he was a winter sprite. It happened most when he got stuck in the desert thanks to the summer sprites. He stepped away from his mom and started peeling the layers off, leaving him in just the white undershirt and brown cloak. “I’ll be fine in just this; I’ve worn it many times before in colder weather. And I’ll even wear shoes if it makes you happy.” He looked down at his covered feet, he felt like a cat wearing booties. He didn’t know how to walk in them. 

“come back if you start feeling weak,” Anna said kissing his forehead “I almost lost you once; I don’t want to lose you again.” 

Jack smiled “I will, mom,” he said grabbing the bow from the wall. Since his father was gone, Jack did most of the hunting for the family. They were low on dried meat that they stored in the winter, so Jack, despite his hypothermia, had to go out into the cold and get some more meat. He ruffled Emma’s hair before heading into the forest. He took a deep breath and notched the bow just in case. Jack glanced over at the lake, he swallowed. It was the lake that he had died in, or at least almost died. He walked over and pressed a hand to the surface just as the wind picked up, he blinked and straightened up. He felt something off but he couldn’t tell what it was. He shrugged and picked up his bow before he continued walking. 

He paused when he saw a buck standing about a hundred feet from him; he raised the bow and took a deep breath. He had done this a hundred times before, sure in his mind it had been a while but his body knew what to do. He remembered the small facts like keeping your elbow in a line with the arrow, the bowstring to the mouth and not closing any of his eyes. He took another breath before releasing the arrow; he watched it hit its mark. It was a clear shot as the arrow went through the buck’s eye, killing it instantly. He stood up and slung his bow across his chest and walked over to the dead deer. He knelt down and pulled the arrow out and tossed it to the side, he pulled out a knife and started gutting the deer. It was disgusting but it had to be done in the wild or it would make his house smell terrible for the next couple weeks. He froze when he heard a twig break behind him; he glanced over his shoulder and looked around. There was nothing there, he shrugged and went back to tending the deer. Now that it was gutless, he skinned it. Cutting the bloody meat into smaller slaps he set them into the sack that he had brought with. It took at least twenty minutes to finish with the deer; he stood up and wiped his bloody hands on a cloth before picking up the back. It was thick so the blood of the meat didn’t soak through to attract unneeded attention. 

Jack stretched and continued walking, his bow was once again in his hand with an arrow notched. Just in case he was attacked by wolves or bears, he looked down at the ground and blinked when he noticed something sitting on the ground. He knelt down and picked it up, it was a light blue egg with snowflakes on it. He swallowed and sat down on a nearby rock “I woke up yesterday with my sister still alive, she said I had hypothermia and had been sleeping for a week. I wasn’t sure if I had dreamed about everything, about Santoff Clausen, the Warden even my three hundred years of solitude. I don’t know what to think anymore; I can’t tell what’s a dream and what’s really happened. Please, if you’re real and not part of something my mind made up, give me a sign.” 

OoO

Aster sighed as he picked himself up off the ground; they had used one of the snow globes to get to Burgress. It was exactly like it was when he woke up, except they were near a house on the outskirts. 

“come back if you start feeling weak,” a female voice said from the doorway “I almost lost you once; I don’t want to lose you again.” 

“I will, mom,” a younger male voice said before a brunette boy came into the sight. 

“North! It’s Jack!” Aster said looking over at the Russian, who was also watching Jack in confusion. They were right; someone or something had turned back time so Jack would be human instead of Jack Frost. “We have to follow him; it’s our chance to catch him alone.” 

“We’d better move quickly then, and stay out of his way until we’re positive it is Jack.” North said before the four guardians followed the boy into the trees. 

Aster watched Jack carefully, stopping when the boy found the deer. He tilted his head before gasping as the arrow flew towards the innocent buck, killing it. “H-He’s a hunter?” he asked looking at the other guardians “But he’s sixteen!” 

“in this era, a child is an adult at sixteen. Jack is an adult, so he knows how to hunt.” Toothiana said looking at Aster “You mentioned a way to get his attention earlier, now would be a good time to set that up.” 

Aster nodded before pulling out an egg and setting it where the boy would be walking. It was only a couple minutes later that Jack found the egg. ‘Does he remember?’ he thought as the boy looked it over. He had sat down on a rock and started talking about how he had thought everything was a dream, and something about a sign “What are we going to do, North?” he asked looking at the Russian, only to see him walking towards Jack “North!”

OoO

Jack sat on the rock for a couple more minutes, his head shot up as he heard a twig snap. He waited a few seconds, his eyes scanning the trees. He sighed “I guess it was just a dream,” he said standing up and picking up his bag and bow. He glanced at the egg one last time before setting it against the rock he had just been sitting on and walking away from it. 

OoO

North was confused, the boy had just walked through him. He obviously believed in them since he was talking about them. But why couldn’t he see them? “Tooth?” he asked looking at the Tooth fairy “What’s going on?” 

“The only explanation I can think of is that this is Manny’s doing,” Tooth said motioning to the full moon above their heads. She turned to look at the Pooka standing to her left “You said before this happened you told Jack that you wished he had never become Jack Frost, what if Manny is trying to prove to you the exact opposite of that. This means, at the moment he is just showing us what Jack’s life would have been if he hadn’t died.” 

“So the only thing we can do is play along with Manny?” Aster asked, earning a nod from Toothiana. He looked over at where Jack had disappeared to, “Does this mean no kids can see us or is that just for Jack?” 

“I’m sure it works for everyone,” Toothiana said softly “Manny wants us to watch Jack, we can’t do that if we’re hiding from other children. I don’t think anyone can see us besides each other and Manny. But we should go; we don’t want to lose Jack.” 

OoO

Jack stepped out of the trees; he had managed to kill another buck on his way home. This should give them plenty of meat, since the bag was extremely heavy at the moment. He pushed the door open “Mom!” he called setting the bag in the large bowl by the door, it was there for hunting in case the blood started leaking before they could dry the meat so the blood didn’t get all over the house. 

“Welcome home, Jack,” Anna said stepping into the room, she looked at the large back and smiled “You did amazing tonight, better than you usually do. I’ll get Emma and we’ll start getting the meat seasoned and ready to dry.” 

“would we be able to have steak?” Jack asked earning a confused look from his mom; he bit his lip when he remembered steak was something from his dream. “I’ll cook; I want to try something new with the meat. I’m not sure how it’ll taste but it shouldn’t taste too bad.” 

“Of course you can, Jack, just grab a blood bowl and grab as much meat as you need. The rest Emma and I will dry while you cook.” Anna said ruffling her son’s hair before heading out the front door to get Emma from the park. 

Jack smiled and grabbed the smaller bowl, he reached into the bag and pulled out four long strips of the bloody meat before sealing the bag once again. He walked over to the sink and filled another bowl with water so he can clean the blood off the meat. He didn’t wash all the blood out; he just got most of it off so it wasn’t dripping blood anymore. He grabbed spit out of the cupboard and set it across the fire in their fireplace. Grabbing the four slabs of meat he set them on the flat rock that was being heated by the burning fire. It was weird cooking like this since he was used to stove tops and pans, but those won’t come out in his lifetime. He grabbed some of the seasons his mom kept and sprinkled some onto the meat, it didn’t take long for the smell of cooking meat to fill the house. It didn’t smell like he was used to, but he was sure it wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe next time he can cook soup, he started making a list for that in his head. He would need carrots, potatoes, meat, and seasoning. 

Jack looked down at the cooking meat; it was so weird being back in this time period. Even if his life as Jack Frost had been a dream, it had seemed so real. He sighed and flipped the meat over so he could sprinkle the seasoning on the other side. He looked over as Anna and Emma came inside, he smiled and stood up straight. “Hey, Emma,” he said as his sister hugging him tightly “How does it smell?”

“it smells amazing!” Emma said looking at the meat “How did you come up with it? Is it from your dream?” 

“Dream?” Anna asked looking at Jack in confusion. 

“Yeah, when I was sleeping from falling in the lake I had a weird dream.” Jack said his brown eyes flickering to his mother “but it’s not really important.” 

“He became Jack Frost!” Emma said looking at Anna with a smile “And he met the Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy and even the Sandman! He said that he became Jack Frost because he drowned in the lake saving me, just like what actually happened except he died! He mentioned the man in the moon, but I’ve never heard of him before.” 

Jack laughed “The Man in the Moon is who chose them as the guardians to protect the children of the world,” he explain as he reached out and ruffled his sisters hair “He’s also the one that rose me from the lake and made me Jack Frost. He’s a very important person, Emma.” 

“Perhaps over dinner you can tell us everything that happened in your dream, all the details.” Anna said as she set some of the meat onto a slab they use for drying it “and Emma can ask all the questions she wants until it’s time for bed, it’ll be her bedtime story for tonight.” 

Jack nodded before looking at Emma “How does that sound?” he asked earning a very excited nod from his sister “Now go help mom dry the meat, you know it takes two people to lift the plate.” He watched as his little sister rushed over to his mom, he gave a nod before turning back to the cooking meat. They were coming along nicely. 

OoO

Aster sniffed the air, they were currently outside of Jack’s house and could smell cooking food from inside. He leaned against the tree and glanced up at the moon, they had decided that they were being punished somehow. They didn’t know how long they would be in this time period until Manny decides to either change it or return it to normal. They could faintly hear voices through the door, but they couldn’t understand what was being said. He glanced over at the other guardians, They were all doing their job even if it wasn’t the same time period. Toothiana was telling several of her fairies to collect teeth while Sandy was dozing, North was staring up at the moon, probably wondering the same thing that Bunny was. 

The Pooka looked down at an egg that he had left for Jack, he still wanted the boy to have it. He glanced at the house, he could always set it on the boy’s bed, so when he went to sleep it would be there. That would also lead to the boy once again believing in them, but they’ll have to give him a better clue than that. “Hey, North,” he said looking up at the Russian “Where’s that staff that Jack always had with him?” 

North looked over at Aster, he could tell from the gleam in the green eyes that he had something planned “I know not, Bunny,” he said tugging gently on his beard “Why are you asking?” 

“Well, I was thinking on putting the egg on his bed but the staff would help prove that he is actually Jack Frost,” Aster said standing up and walking over to the other guardians “but I was also thinking that If we can prove that we want Jack as a guardian still, then maybe Manny will send everything back to normal.” 

“How do you expect to prove that to Jack?” Toothiana asked as her wings shuffled nervously “He can’t see us or hear us.” 

“but he can see what we leave behind,” Aster said holding up the egg “Jack saw the egg earlier, we have to give him small hints of who he is. An egg with a snowflake from me, possibly his memory container from Tooth,” 

“I could make him ice sculpture of himself as Jack Frost,” North said with a nod. 

“A simple painting might be better, mate,” Aster said with a smile “And sandy, if it’s possible, give him dreams of flying and snow, anything to make him feel better as Jack Frost, and to make him want to go back to it. We have competition since his sister and mom is there, but we need him.” 

OoO

Jack had just finished telling his family about the three hundred years of solitude after becoming Jack Frost. With the promise to his sister about telling her the rest of the story the next day, he was finally able to head to bed. He set the candle down on the table next to his bed before walking over to the window, he carefully threw open the dusty curtains and pushed the window open. He took a deep breath of the clean air as it blew his brown hair into his face, he laughed and brushed his bangs out of his face “Wind, stop it,” he said softly, and almost instantly the breeze died down. He blinked in confusion before shrugging, but be just a mere coincidence that the wind died down as he spoke. Jack glanced out at the trees, his brown eyes looking hard for something that reminded himself of his life as Jack Frost. Even though the guardians didn’t come through when he asked them to prove themselves, he still had a reason to believe that he had been Jack Frost at one point. 

Jack glanced over at his door; he could hear his mother trying to coax Emma into her bed in the room across the hall. He gave a small smile, when he had been Jack Frost he had wished that he would have been able to see his sister grow older. But now that he can see her, and she can see him, he wanted to be Jack Frost again. He sighed and glanced back out the window, his eyes flickering up to the moon “I don’t know what your plan is Manny,” he said softly as he reached for the window “but no one had better get hurt, or you not only have me to deal with but the guardians as well.” He gave a small nod before pulling the window shut but he didn’t close the curtains. 

Jack walked over to his bed, his fingers carefully untying the cloak he was wearing and letting it drop into a messy pile on his floor. He would pick it up tomorrow, he was just too tired to do anything at that moment. He plopped down on the bed, not even bothering the pull the covers over his body before he fell asleep. 


	3. Final day in the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guardians have finally realized why Manny sent them into the past, but what's Manny got up his sleeve now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YaY! Past/Human Jack has finally come to a close, but there are still many more adventures that our guardians have to go through before everything is done! Thanks for hanging in there and waiting patiently for this chapter.
> 
> I want to apologize ahead of time, I'm changing a little piece of this story. It's not just going to be Jack as human or Jack's life in the past. It's going to jump around to different versions of Jack, because Manny's a little shit. The chapter will still be as long as well at least two chapters per version of Jack Frost.

Jack groaned as he slowly woke up, he opened his eyes and looked over at the window. It was open once again; that made him pause and blink a few times. He could have sworn he had closed it before he went to sleep the night before. He gave a small shrug before sitting up and stretching, he set his feet down on the floor before standing up and headed out of his room. He glanced over with a smile when he saw his mom and sister sitting at the table. “Good Morning,” he said as they looked over at him, he saw Emma smile as he sat down next to her “I hope I didn’t oversleep.” 

“you deserve the rest, Jackson,” Anna said gently as she stood up “I hope you’re hungry, Emma and I made eggs and bacon.” 

Jack smiled “that sounds great, mom,” he said nodding as he leaned back in the chair. He was kinda happy that the day before wasn’t a dream but at the same time he was kinda sad. He looked over at Emma and ruffled her hair “So what are we doing today?” 

“I wanted to go for a walk in the woods,” Emma said with a smile as she looked over at him, she didn’t even bother fixing her hair because she knew he would mess it up again anyway “It would be fun if you come with.” 

Jack smiled “A walk in the woods sounds great, Emma,” he said before looking over at Anna “but it’s really up to mom, after all, the woods are very dangerous.” 

Anna smiled “its fine by me, but you should take the bow with you just in case.” She said gently as she set a plate of food down in front of Jack “The Bennett’s saw things in the woods last night that aren’t normally there, so be extra careful.” 

Jack paused at the name Bennett, his mind instantly went to Jamie. ‘They must be his ancestors,’ he thought softly as he picked up his fork and started eating the food off the plate. He glanced up at Anna and nodded “We will,” he said with a smile “I’ll even have Emma hold onto a dagger just in case.” 

“you know women aren’t allowed to have weapons,” Anna said with a frown as she sat down across from him. 

“They should, what if they were attacked without a man around. They need some way to defend themselves,” Jack said with a frown, he had forgotten all the rules of the 1700’s that were ended during his time as Jack Frost. He gave a small sigh “but I guess you’re right, Emma could hurt herself if she had a weapon.” 

Emma looked over at her brother; she could tell by his face that he didn’t believe in the last part. They both knew that she wouldn’t hurt herself, but it was frowned upon in their village. She wasn’t sure who came up with the rule, but it stuck and now they were as they are now, women being unable to defend themselves and having to depend on men. 

Jack looked over at Emma and gave a small smile “So what are you hoping to find in the woods, Emma?” he asked curiously as he took another bite of his scrambled eggs, it was pretty bland but he figured it was what was eaten and they probably didn’t have any salt or pepper in that era. He would have to ask North to make him some scrambled eggs when he got home, after all, the Russian made the best food ever. Unless it didn’t have meat or animal byproducts, then that title went to Bunny who makes amazing carrot cake. 

Emma shrugged “Not sure at the moment, but I want to stay away from the lake,” she said, after Jack fell in the first time she swore that she wouldn’t go anywhere near it until she was at least thirty and only when it was summer. 

Jack smiled “I understand,” he said “We could go into the clearing and make snowmen and snow forts.” 

Emma smiled “That sounds like fun,” she said “But won’t our hands get cold in the snow?” 

Jack paused before smiling “We could make gloves,” he said as he set his fork down, he had finished with his breakfast but he still had to wash up. Since it was the end of winter it was starting to warm up. He stood up and brought his plate to the sink “Mom, I’m going to get some water from the well for a bath.” He said grabbing one of the large buckets, and heading out the back door to the pump. He wasn’t sure what to do about pumping water but he figured he would let his body do what it needed to and it would get done. He set the bucket down on the ground before gripping the wooden handle and pulled it up; it took all his weight to push it back down again. It took a few pumps but he soon had water running into the bucket. A few more pumps the bucket was full and he let go of the handle, for some reason, after struggling for the first two pumps they suddenly got a lot easier. He couldn’t explain what happened but he brushed it off as the gears getting used to moving again. 

Jack brushed his brown bangs out of his face before picking up the bucket and carrying it back into the house, he carefully poured it into a large pot before setting it on the fire. He would heat the water up before heading to the bathroom with it. He glanced over at Emma “Have you bathed recently?” he asked as he took in her dirty brown hair. 

“Of course not, it’s winter,” Emma said with a frown “We’d freeze if we try to bath unless it’s important. You’re going to too, and I’m sure mom doesn’t want you to get sick again.” 

“again?” Jack asked with a smile “Aren’t I still recovering from the lake?” he knew it had only been a day or two since he woke up from also drowning/freezing to death. 

“Yes, you are still recovering,” Emma said leaning back in her chair “that’s makes this bath of yours and even worse idea.” 

“But I’m heating the water up, plus, I should be completely dry by the time we head into the woods.” Jack said sticking his tongue out at his sister playfully. He watched her eyes widen before she laughed and stuck her tongue back out at him, he gave a smirk before turning back to the pot of water just as it started a soft boil. He picked it up and poured it into two large wooden bowls “take you bowl and get cleaned up, Emma,” he said picking up his own bowl of hot water “We’ll head to the woods after we’re clean and dry.” 

Emma pouted softly, but when she saw her brother wasn’t going to be moved by her pouty face she gave a sigh before heading over and grabbing her bowl “Fine, but I won’t like it,” she said before heading to her room to clean up. 

Jack laughed before heading to his own room; he set the bowl down on the desk and grabbed a wash cloth. He glanced over at the window next to him; he watched for a few seconds before slipping his shirt off and grabbed a towel off the desk and dipping it into the water. He flinched slightly at the heat of the water but wrung the towel out and started scrubbing the dirt off his pale body. It took at least a half hour to clean just his torso and what he could reach of his back before he soaked the towel and started on his hair. This took a little longer because he had to wash part by part since he wasn’t in a shower and could wet his hair all at once. 

Jack stared at the bowl before cupping his palms and lifting some water up, he splashed it onto his face and hair in hopes to get them wetter than he could with a towel. He let out a sigh of frustration; he wasn’t used to getting clean by doing it this way. He ran a hand through his wet brown hair before freezing as a flash of green appeared outside his window. He tilted his head as he stared at the large window next to him, he waited a few seconds to see if the green would appear again but when it didn’t he shrugged and turned back to the water. 

Jack grabbed the soap and carefully lathered it into his hair, it was soap meant for the body but it did basically the same thing for his hair. This took a little longer to rinse out since it was soap but he was eventually clean. He picked up the larger dry towel and started scrubbing his head in hopes to soak up as much water as possible. He wrapped the towel around his shoulders before heading to another chest and opening it; he pulled out a simple white shirt and threw it onto the bed before grabbing a pair of black pants. 

Jack carefully slipped his pants off, he wasn’t wearing any underwear but that was normal for the 1700’s, and slipped into the black pants, they were supposed to be his formal pants but he could care less. He had another pair of black pants that could be worn if he needed to be formal. The pale boy turned to the bed and grabbed the white shirt; he gave a small smile as he slipped it on. It reminded him a lot of the white shirts that pirates would often be seen wearing with the tight shirt and the loose sleeves. It took only a matter of seconds for him to tie the strings on the front of the shirt. 

Jack ran the towel through his dryer brown hair once more before setting the towel down on the desk and picked up the bowl so he could empty it. He carried it outside and dumped it into what would be their flowers garden in the spring. He glanced around the trees for a few seconds before heading inside and setting the bowl down by the fireplace. 

OoO

Jack smiled as he picked up his cloak “Come on, Emma,” he said, it was at least an hour after they took their bathes and both were completely dry. Emma looked much better since her hair didn’t have any dirt or snarls in it anymore. He wrapped his cloak around his shoulders and tied it around his neck before grabbing the dagger and tying it to his hip. He glanced over at Anna “We’ll be back in a few hours, mom,” he said with a smile as he made sure that Emma had her gloves on so she didn’t get frostbite. He grabbed the shepherds crook before taking his sisters hand and leading her out of the house. 

Jack glanced around as they stepped into the trees, he knew he should have brought the bow but he knew how to fight with the staff better than he did fighting with the bow. He glanced over at Emma just before she started pulling him through the trees “Why are we going to the woods, Emma?” he asked softly as he followed her. 

“I want to find those creatures that the Bennett’s saw,” Emma said looking up at Jack “You can use your dagger to stop them from moving and we can get the town officials to take a look at them.” 

Jack frowned “Emma, they haven’t hurt anyone,” he said softly, but that would explain the green blur that he had seen that morning “I’m not going to do anything to them unless they attack first. They might be peaceful and just looking for a temporary home.” 

“Fine, but I still want to see them,” Emma said with a pout, but she knew her brother was right like always.

Jack smiled “Now, we’ll go to the clearing and wait to see if they’ll come to us,” he said as he started pulling Emma in a different direction so they could make it to the clearing “I’d suggest by the lake, but you already made it clear you don’t want to go near it.” 

“you almost died in that lake, Jack,” Emma said with a frown “you should be more scared of it than I am.” 

Jack shrugged “I’m not scared of it, I still find being around it relaxing.” He said softly, earning a confused look from his sister “You’ll understand when you’re older, Emma, it’s a little hard to explain without confusing you.” 

Emma nodded “I guess, but I still don’t understand,” she said before pausing “does it have something to do with that dream of yours, with the guardians?” 

Jack smiled “Yeah, Kinda,” he said nodding “I spent three hundred years at that lake as Jack Frost, so it’s a part of me.” 

“do you think those creatures that the Bennett’s saw could have been the guardians?” Emma asked as she looked forward again. 

“If they are the guardians then why didn’t they come to me first?” Jack asked as he glanced around at the trees, he believed in the guardians after all so he should be able to see them. 

“Maybe you can’t see them,” Emma said softly as she looked back at Jack “You explained that The Man in the Moon made you Jack Frost, maybe he turned back time so you were human instead. Leaving you with your memories he made it so that even though the guardians are there, you can’t see them.” 

Jack blinked as he went through what she just said in her head “It’s possible,” he said softly, it would also explain the green blur in the morning and that egg he had seen earlier. They would be the work of Tooth and Aster, but he’s seen no signs of North or Sandy being there. “But we’ll have to see, let’s just get to the clearing and we’ll go from there.” 

Emma smiled “You know I’m right,” she said as she looked forward, her hand gently squeezing her brother’s hand “You’ve seen the signs, I’m sure you have.” 

“You’re too smart for your age,” Jack said as his grip tightened on the staff in his hand, they walked in silence for a few more minutes before they finally reached the clearing. He walked over to the large flat tree stump and set his staff across it “So, how are we going to prove your theory of the guardians are there but I just can’t see them?” 

“There’s plenty of snow, we could have them write to you,” Emma said with a smile as she sat down on the stump “We’ll ask them a question and they either write or make little prints so we know they’re there.” 

“And what if they can’t move the snow?” Jack asked as he sat down next to her, as much as he wanted to believe her theory…it was just too unbelievable to be true. 

“Then we’ll think of something, If your story was actually true, then I doubt the guardians would let you go so easily.” Emma said as she turned to face him completely “I don’t know what happened after the battle against Pitch but I still doubt that the guardians would let you go so easily.” 

Jack blinked “But that’s just it, Emma,” he said softly “I don’t know if it was real or just a dream.” 

Emma gave a small smile as she looked around at the trees surrounding them “We should set some things up, if they actually are here then they can tell you what’s true and what isn’t.” she said as she stood up “I’m sure they have more answers than you do, and are probably more than willing to help you answer them.” 

“and what if they aren’t real, Emma?” Jack asked as she watched her “Then what?” 

“Then you write about that dream you had,” Emma said turning to face him “and you let people know about it, you make it a reality. I’m sure children across the country would love the idea of a Russian Santa or the Easter Bunny being a giant six foot rabbit.”

“Aster isn’t a rabbit,” Jack said with a smirk “He’s a Kangaroo” he waited a few seconds to see if something happened but nothing other than the wind blowing across his face. He glanced around before sighing and flattening out a part of the snow. 

“what are you doing, Jack?” Emma asked as she watched him work. 

“you wanted to communicate with them, so I’m just making an area that they can write on.” Jack said looking over at her “Kinda like an Ouija board, but not at the same time. 

“what’s an Ouija board?” Emma asked tilting her head in confusion. 

“It’s a board people use to communicate with the dead,” Jack said with a smile as he grabbed a flat but thick piece of ice and set it on the letters he had drawn onto the snow. He leaned back to admire his work, it wasn’t very well done but he knew that no one would judge him for a poorly drawn letters. 

Emma glanced at the board “And this is supposed to communicate with them?” she asked. 

“what happens is they will move the ice either onto yes, no or maybe if I ask a simple yes no question,” Jack explained as he tapped the ice chunk with a finger “but they can also use the letters to spell words if they want to. Like if we were talking to an actually spirit then they would spell out their name or why they were there. It’s fairly simple but it doesn’t work all the time.” 

“and what if they can’t touch the ice?” 

“then we’ll deal with it when the time comes,” Jack said as he stood up, his gaze still on the chunk of ice lying on the snow. He took a deep breath before speaking “Is someone or something there?”

OoO

Aster looked at the words before signing and picking up the block of ice, he froze when he was actually able to lift it up. He gave a smirk before setting it on ‘no’ just to mess with Jack. He heard the breathy laugh of the now brunette boy as his gaze went over to North, Sandy and Tooth “We can talk to him like this,” he said softly “We can let him know that we’re real.” 

“Will be hard and take long time,” North said softly before nodding “We will write in snow with stick, get point across as well and faster.” 

Aster nodded and picked up a stick and started writing in the snow. 

OoO

Jack watched as the stick started writing in the snow, it confused him that he couldn’t see what was moving the stick but he knew something was there. It had a sense of humor since it said nothing was there when the ice moved on its own. He watched as words slowly appeared into the snow, he gave a smile as he instantly recognized the handwriting “Bunny!” he said happily before looking at Emma who looked terrified, he gave a small smile before pulling her into a hug “It’s just Bunny, you remember him. I told you about him last night.” 

Emma looked up at Jack “the stick is moving on its own!” she said softly “They’re not supposed to do that!” 

“but that means the guardians are real, which means my story is real,” Jack said as he ran a hand through his sisters hair and looked down at the writing “Manny did this?” he waited for the rest of the sentence to be finish before nodding “So Manny’s stopping me from seeing you, but I’m surprised you came to find me, Bunny. I would have expected you to be happy that I wasn’t Jack Frost anymore. I won’t be able to freeze over Easter anymore, or freeze the eggs right before Easter.” 

“ _That doesn’t matter, I care about you, Jack,”_ the words said next after the previous ones were erased “ _You can destroy Easter a hundred times and you’d still belong._ ” 

Jack gave a small smile “Thanks, Bunny,” he said softly before looking up as the light of the moon started growing. He looked at Emma who was looking at him with a scared expression. 

“Jack, you’re disappearing!” Emma said as she clung to her brother in desperation. 

Jack looked down at his fingers, he watched as they turned transparent before disappearing completely. “B-Bunny…What’s happening to me?” he asked as he looked up, he could see the guardians this time and they looked equally scared. 

“I-I don’t know, Mate!” Aster said once he realized that Jack was seeing them “Maybe Manny’s showing us something else!”

Jack swallowed before nodding “I trust Manny,” he said softly before looking over at Emma “Take care of mom, ok Emma” 

Emma nodded before her brother disappeared completely and her world went dark. 

OoO

Aster groaned and opened his eyes again, he looked around and recognized it as Burgress as they left it “North!” he said looking over at the Russian “We’re back! But where’s Jack?” 

“I don’t think our adventure is over yet,” Tooth said as she looked at the end of the street, standing there was a small figure wearing a jet black turtle neck that clung to his body with loose sleeves that hung over his pale hands and dark grey fingers. His pants were black as well but were loose much like the sleeves of the shirt, he was still barefoot but his toes were dark gray like his fingers. 

Aster swallowed, instead of being human or normal Jack Frost, Manny made him dark and on Pitch’s side. He watched as the head rose, the face of the boy they knew well was still pale but his hair was black and his eyes were a vibrant shade of silver that seemed to glow in the dark. He watched as a smirk spread across the familiar face before the boy short towards them with the fury of the wind behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions or ideas (I still need more challenges/adventures for the guardians, or if you just want a version of Jack you want to read but can't find) just leave a message and I'll see what I can do! 
> 
> ~Brii


	4. Dark Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guardians were sent to a timeline where Jack Frost was not their friend....but their enemy.

Aster jumped back as the blade of the scythe slammed into the ground where he stood just seconds before “Frostbite! Stop!” he said as he pulled out his boomerangs “It’s us! We don’t want to hurt you!” 

“but where’s the fun in that,” Jack asked with a playful smirk as he watched the Pooka. 

“What happened to you, mate?” 

Jack smirked and pulled the scythe out of the ground and slung it across his shoulder, it was a familiar action that he used to do with the staff. His silver eyes flickered across the confused guardians, a look of interest flickered across his face as the smirk slowly vanished. “Well isn’t this interesting,” he said as he tapped his long gray fingers against the hand of his scythe “but I’m afraid I can’t answer that just yet, but feel free to look around as much as you like. At least until I come back for you.” He gave an exaggerated bow before he shot into the sky. 

Aster turned to look at the other guardians “at least he can see us in this time line,” he said softly as he moved so he was standing closer to the other guardians. 

“This time line?” Toothiana asked as she looked over at Aster in confusion. 

“that’s what Manny’s doing isn’t it?” Aster asked softly “He’s sending us through various time lines to show us what Jack would be like if he wasn’t a guardian. The first one was when he was a human, he was happy and had his sister and mother with him still. This time he joined Pitch. Once this time line is done, Manny will probably send us to another time line with a new Jack.” 

“but what causes the time lines to change?” North asked as he ran his fingers through his beard “Last time we realized that Jack is one of us, no matter what he does.” 

“Maybe Manny isn’t showing us how much we need him,” Toothiana said softly “but showing us how much he needs us.” 

“I think it’s a little bit of both,” Aster said looking over at Toothiana “but this Jack will be a little difficult because he’s our enemy, and I don’t know about you guys, but I really don’t want to fight Jack.”

Sandy tapped his chin before a bunch of images appeared over his head, one a snowflake and a tooth then a question mark. 

“Snowflake? Oh! Jack!” Toothiana said with a smile “Tooth….memories?” 

“Will Jack remember?” Aster asked, earning a nod from Sandy “I don’t know, these are Jack but they’re also not at the same time. It’s hard to tell.”

“We will see when adventure is done,” North said as he started walking down the street “Now, is there guardian in this timeline or are they defeated?” 

“I don’t think it would be a good idea to go find ourselves in this timeline, we should stay out of their way and just find out way home.” Aster said as he grabbing North’s sleeve so he didn’t wonder off “as well as stick together.” 

OoO

Jack walked down the hallways of his lair; it was in the middle of the South Pole. It was a giant castle like structure made completely of ice and snow. He started down a set of stairs heading to the dungeon. He hadn’t wanted to leave the guardians so soon, but they didn’t need to know what was going on, not until he figured out why there were double the guardians in this world. He pushed open the door and stepped into the room, his silver eyes flickered over to his own guardians that were currently tied to the wall. As well as Pitch, yes, in this world Pitch was the newest guardian and the good guy. He stopped in front of North, he watched as the light blue eyes looked down at him and gave a smirk “So you’re here and there,” he said earning a confused look from everyone “I think Manny is up to something.” 

“Jack, just let us go,” Toothiana said, all her feathers had fallen out leaving her in her human form with olive skin and dark brown hair. She would have been beautiful if it wasn’t for the frozen cuts that littered her body as well as the small pinpricks where her feathers used to be. 

“But that’s no fun, Toothiana,” Jack said as he turned his gaze to her “I won’t let you guys go until I completely shatter your centers, I’m close to breaking your Tooth but the rest will be a little more difficult than obliterating a couple million teeth.” He watched as her amethyst eyes widened in horror as he informed her of what he was doing. He gave a smirk before looking back at North “I could always rip your eyes out, see how much wonder you can see when you’re blind. I might keep Aster as pet; show him that there is no hope in this world anymore. Sandy, I don’t know how you can destroy dreams other than causing Nightmares but that’s Pitch’s job.” His gaze flickered over to the last person he had chained to the wall “It’s such a pity that you didn’t want to join me, after all, nothing goes together better than Cold and Darkness.” 

“I’m not the one freezing children to death!” Pitch snapped as he tugged on the chains that kept his hands above his head. 

Jack laughed “I’ll let you guys in on a little secret,” he said as he held a gray finger to his lips “There are guardians here, from another timeline.” He watched as his guardian’s eyes widened “I just ran into them on the street, and in their timeline, I must have been ally. Which means, that Pitch, is their enemy instead.” 

“You an ally?” Aster snapped as he glared from the cage he was in, he was back in his smaller bunny form since he had lost most of his believers “What would you be guardian of?” 

“You can ask them when I catch them as well,” Jack said with a chuckle as he turned back towards the door, he was expecting visitors soon and he wanted to make the proper greeting “It’ll be fun, just like the games we used to play, Bunny.” With that he let the door shut behind him. He turned the key to lock the door before heading up to the throne room. He sat down on his large frozen throne; it was six feet tall and made completely of sparkling ice with snow for the cushions. His dark blue eyes watched the door; after all, he couldn’t be unprepared when the other guardians got there. 

OoO

“So we have to find Jack?” Toothiana asked, her wings fluttered soundlessly as she flew next to North and Aster. She was nervous with the whole ‘ _Jack’s evil now_ ’ thing in this world, and if Jack was evil then where was Pitch? That wasn’t a question she had brought up yet, because there were three possible answers to that. One was that Pitch and Jack were working together, two was that Pitch didn’t exist in this world, and three was that Jack was evil and Pitch was good. She didn’t like any of the possibilities but she knew she would get her answer eventually. 

“Well, he spends most of his time in the South Pole in our time line,” North said as he looked over at the Tooth fairy, they were all sitting a large cloud of sand since they didn’t have the sleigh to fly with “we’re going to try there first, and if he’s not there then we’re going to have to draw him to us.”

“and if he is there?” 

“I don’t know, Toothy,” North admitted softly “I don’t want to fight the boy, but if he’s evil then we will have to do something about it. There’s also a chance that Pitch might be there as well, so we should be on our guard more.” 

“Guys, does Frostbite have a castle in our world?” Aster asked as a large castle came into view, it was made purely of shimmering ice that seemed to have shades of blue, purple, white, green and pink. 

Tooth stared at the castle in awe “I don’t think so,” she said softly as the cloud of sand was slowly lowered to the bottom of the steps. She slipped off the sand “but when we normally see Jack, he comes to our homes. We’ve always assumed his home was the lake in Burgress.” 

“We should hurry, if Jack is here he won’t be for long,” North said as he started climbing the stairs, they weren’t as slippery as they looked. He stopped at the top and pushed the door open, the very first room they entered was the throne room. It was just as grand as the rest of the castle, and colors to match as well. But they weren’t focusing on that, because sitting in the large throne was Jack. 

“You seem to have been expecting us, Frostbite,” Aster said as the four guardians stepped into the room. He watched as a deadly smirk spread across the boy’s face before he slowly stood up. 

“Of course I’ve been expecting you,” Jack said as he folded his hands behind his back “After all, it’s not often one gets the chance to meet the guardians face to face, but where is Pitch?” 

“Pitch is bad guy,” North said in confusion, why would the boy be asking where Pitch was? 

“Not here he’s not, and in your world, what am I to you?” Jack asked, earning a shocked look from the rest of the guardians. He gave a soft chuckle “Of course I know you’re not from here, the guardians from this world are locked away in my dungeon, which means that Manny decided to send you here to stop me from destroying their centers.” 

“How can you destroy someone’s center?” Toothiana asked nervously, she wanted to know but at the same time she knew that she wouldn’t be the same if she knew. 

Jack smiled “Well, Toothiana, your center is memories, so I’m destroying every single baby that my Toothiana has collected. Once those are gone, her center will be too because there will be no more memories.” He said, his smile widening as he saw the horror that spread across the memory guardian’s face. “Now that I answered your question, I want you to answer mine. What am I to you, in your world?” 

North swallowed “You are guardian, Jack Frost,” he said softly “the guardian of Joy.” 

Jack laughed “Why would I want to be a guardian, after everything that everyone has done to me in the three hundred years of my life.” He said as he looked at North “I am a child after all, but no one ever looked at me like one. You guys probably don’t know, but I was only fourteen when I became Jack Frost.” 

Aster stiffened “Fourteen?” he asked before glancing at the other guardians, he had assumed that the boy was at least seventeen or eighteen. He would still be a child but he would have been old enough to care for himself. 

“I take it the me in your world never told you either,” Jack said as he took in the confused and horrified faces of the guardian “But, I’m afraid that’s all the time I have for fun and games. I have to get back to my guardians, the obliteration of my Toothiana’s teeth should be just about done, and then I’m started on Nick. After all, there can only be so much wonder in the world.” 

“wait!” Aster said as he rushed forward, but was only met with the blade of a scythe to his throat. He looked into the silver eyes of Jack “Why are you torturing your guardians?” 

Jack tilted his head before smiling “because it’s fun,” he said “I guess that’s something both me and your Jack seem to have in common, we both enjoy having fun. It’s only a matter of time before yours feels the thrill of killing someone for the first time, I still remember the first child that I killed. It was twenty five years after I became Jack Frost, I stabbed him with an icicle out of anger. The thrill was amazing, it made me wonder what it would be like to do it to someone immortal.” 

“Oh, Sweet Tooth,” Toothiana said softly, only to have the silver eyes glare at her. She covered her mouth, she knew he wasn’t the same Jack but she couldn’t help it. 

“Don’t call me that, you’re not from my world and that’s the only reason I haven’t beheaded any of you,” Jack said as he pulled his scythe away from Asters neck “because if I kill one of you, I don’t know what will happen. For all I know I could turn into a goodie two shoes like the Jack in your world. But at the same time you guys can’t kill me because I’m still Jack, your precious little guardian of joy. Can someone even guard Joy? It’s as pointless as Pitch, the guardian of Fear.” 

“But fear is bad thing,” North said in confusion as he ran his fingers through is beard. 

“Without fear children would be running in front of cars or trains,” Jack said as he looked over at North “fear is what keeps children alive until they know right from wrong, if you remove fear, then what part of them tells them to run from rabid animals that want to rip their throats out?” 

“Common sense does a good job of that,” Aster muttered as he pulled out his boomerangs. 

“That’s just it, Bunny, Children don’t have common sense, that’s why there are guardians,” Jack said as he turned and started towards the dungeon “Now leave, I have no wish to tie you up against your will. Figure out why you’re in my world and leave, or you can watch as I torture the guardians of this world. It’s up to you, just don’t get in my way.” 

Jack pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked a set of doors, he pushed them open before descending the stairs into the basement. 

Aster swore softly before he and the rest of the guardians followed the boy down the stairs. They were about halfway through when the step beneath his foot went down before five stairs beneath them suddenly disappeared, causing them to fall down a large icy slide into a cage. They groaned softly and sat up, looking around their cage first before they looked out and froze. Chained to the wall across from them…was them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I understand that it's confusing with the guardians from both timelines in the same timeline, _but_ it goes with the idea that Jack Frost is their enemy and if he had been suddenly fighting the guardians and they don't want to fight him then it would have been hard. So I put both sets of guardians into this story, the guardians from the Dark Jack timeline (in the next chapter) will be called by their first name/full name and the guardians from the other timeline will be their usual names that they're called. If you're still confused about certain things, just ask and I'll answer you to the best of my ability.
> 
> This chapter is shorter than the rest because I want it to be at least two chapters and I figured this would be a good spot to end this chapter. The next chapter should be up in a couple days.
> 
> ~Brii
> 
> DISCLAIMERS!
> 
> Castle is not mine! source: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/ice-castle-philip-straub.html


	5. You're never alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can the guardians figure out how to leave the new timeline or will dark Jack break them first?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TORTURE! VIOLENCE!**

Jack turned towards the cage “So you decided to join me after all,” he said as he looked at the caged guardians, he gave a smirk before turning towards his own guardians “How are you feeling Toothiana, is your center broken yet or have I missed a few teeth?”

Tooth looked at Toothiana in horror, is that what would have happened if the belief in her hadn’t come back? She glanced over at North who was glancing between the chained guardians on the other side of the room. Their Jack, nor their Pitch, would have ever done something like this. 

Toothiana focused her amethyst eyes on Jack “You should know, Jack,” she said weakly, her voice cracking slightly “you’re the one that’s destroying them,” 

Jack laughed “I’ve won and you’re still fighting back,” he said as he leaned his scythe against the wall by the door “why is that?” 

“because the good always wins,” Nick answered for Toothiana, hoping to divert the winter spirits attention from the weakened fairy to himself. 

Jack shook his head “Maybe in their timeline,” he said, motioning towards the cage with his head “but not in mine, after all, I do rule the entire world. It’s amazing how five guardians, who have been around for thousands of years, couldn’t take down one simple winter spirit. I’m only three hundred years old after all.” 

“you are not just simple winter spirit,” Nick said shaking his head “You have winter in your bones.” 

“Shh, I don’t think the other guardians know that about their Jack yet.” Jack said, holding one of his long dark gray fingers to his own lips as he turned to look at North “do they?” 

“Jack is winter?” Bunny muttered as he looked at North as well, they hadn’t known that. They had always assumed that Jack was just a simple winter spirit, just like April, May and Augustus. 

Jack smiled and walked over to the cage “Yes, I was created not only by the Man in the Moon but also Mother Nature,” he said kneeling down to look the guardians in the eyes “Manny brought me back to life while Mother Nature tied winter to my body. Since winter is the wildest of all seasons, it needs an official spirit to keep it in check so it doesn’t cause another ice age.” He gave a chuckle “I assume it’s the same in your timeline, I doubt they’re too different.” 

Jack gave a shrug before standing up but he faced Pitch this time “I need to borrow a little bit of your sand, Pitch,” he said walking over to the boogieman, he had finally found a way to break Sanderson but he needed a little help. 

“I would never willingly give you my sand, Frost,” Pitch growled as he glared at Jack. 

“I know which is why you won’t be willing.” Jack said as he created a dagger out of ice and slammed it into the boogieman’s shoulder. He gave a smirk at the pained cry he received for his action “I’m just going to have to use your blood instead; it works just the same as your sand does. It’s just a little more fun for me and a lot more painful for you.” 

Jack twisted the dagger before creating a medium sized vial from ice and holding it underneath the wound. He pulled the vial away when it was almost filled with Pitch’s blood. He took a step back and pulled the dagger out of the boogieman’s shoulder, pressed his hand to the wound he coated it in a layer of ice “I don’t want you to bleed out before the fun even begins,” he said as he let the dagger melt in his hand. He looked at the vial and let out a giggle before looking at Sanderson “I did a lot of research to figure out how to break you, Sanderson,” he said moving to stand in front of the Sandman “It would have been much easier if Pitch was on my side, but you can’t always get the allies you want.”

Jack gave a smirk “I hope you like the taste of blood, Sanderson,” he said as he lifted the vial slightly “I also hope that the corruption that this will cause you won’t hurt too badly.” He forced the opening of the vial into the Sandman’s mouth and poured the dark blood into it, his smirk grew as Sanderson started struggling. Once the vial was empty he tossed it aside and covered the Sandman’s mouth with a layer of ice so he couldn’t spit it out. The effect was almost instantaneous; the glowing gold sand started darkening as the blood corrupted him. 

Jack smiled and turned to look at Aster, he knelt down in front of the tiny rabbit “Have you lost hope yet, Aster?” he asked as the Pooka glared at him “You and your friends can’t escape, Toothiana and Sanderson’s centers are broken, there’s nothing you can do to save them. There is no hope left.” 

“there’s always hope, Frost,” Aster snapped as his ears went flat against the back of his head. 

“Then how about we lose our sense of wonder now,” Jack said as he stood straight, his silver eyes flickered to Nick. He heard the protests from North in the cage behind him “Silence!” he yelled as he turned to face the caged Guardians “You have no control in this timeline, just because you are here doesn’t change what I was going to do with them. The only way to break a guardian is to break their center, and if you keep making noises I _will_ break you too.” He watched as the caged guardians fell silent under his glaring silver eyes, he watched them for a few seconds before returning his gaze to Nick. He took a deep breath before walking over to him; he watched the light blue eyes follow him until he stopped in front of the Russian “Scream if you want,” he told Nick as he created a smaller dagger, the blade was only about half an inch in width and six inches long. He gave a smirked as he stepped closer, bringing the blade to the Russians eyes. 

Tooth let out a sob as she looked away, her face burying into North’s chest. She felt Bunny place one of his paws against her back and gentle rub it, but her main focus was trying to ignore the screams from Nick as Jack cut his eyes to the point where they were completely useless. 

Jack smirked as he stepped back “How do you feel, Nick?” he asked as he dropped the dagger, it shattered against the ground at his feet. He looked into the holes that were once filled with wonder filled blue eyes. He let out a laugh, but this one was more maniacal than the ones before. He stepped away and looked across the guardians he had chained against the wall. Toothiana was sobbing quietly, the last of her feathers were against her feet, Sanderson was on the final limb of being corrupted by Pitch’s blood, Nick was now blind, Aster was locked in a cage and unable to help his friend. His silver eyes finally landed on Pitch “I’ve broken everyone but you,” he said moving so he was standing in front of the boogieman “I figured that using your blood to corrupt Sanderson would have done it, but you’re still holding strong. Why is that, Pitch?” 

Pitch looked at him, his golden eyes staring into the silver of his enemy “Because fear is not so easily destroyed,” he said softly “After all, even you’re afraid of something.” 

Jack smirked “Too bad my fear isn’t around anymore,” he said as he put his hands on his hips. 

“Pyrophobia, the fear of fire; Eremophobia, the fear of being alone; Athazagoraphobia, the fear of being forgotten or ignore,” Pitch said monotonously as he continued watching Jack, he noticed how the boys left eye twitched at every word he said “Just a few to be named, there are probably many more. After all, everyone’s afraid of something.” 

Jack frowned before he gave a soft chuckle “you would have made a great ally, Pitch,” he said as he lifted his chin slightly to show that he wasn’t afraid of what Pitch was saying “forcing your enemies to suffer through their worst nightmares without ever laying a finger on them.” 

Jack gave a shrug before he stepped away from Pitch “I’ll figure out how to break you another time, Pitch,” he said before turning his gaze Nick. He gave a smirk before walking over to him “See how easy it is to break a center,” he said as all five of them looked at him “it was so much fun to break you guys, too bad it’s over. I had a lot more fun things to do with you.” 

“you’re mad, Jack,” Nick said as he tugged on his chains “How many people have to suffer before you’ve had your fun?” 

“The fun never stops, Nick,” Jack said as his silver eyes locked on the Russian “That’s the thing about fun, it’s completely endless as long as there is someone to play with. And I have plenty of players, even if they are completely unwilling.” 

North’s eyes widened “that’s all this is about?” he asked, causing his guardians to look at him “You’re doing all of this for fun? Or is it to be noticed?”

Jack stiffened before he turned to face North “You don’t know anything about me,” he said, but his voice was softer than before, showing that either North had struck home or was close. 

“In our world you had fun without hurting anyone, you caused snow days that made children laugh and play,” North continued, hoping that he would answer what Manny sent them there to find. He watched as the once hard silver eyes start to soften slightly, but it wasn’t enough, he knew that. He took a breath before he continued talking “Even in the face of danger you found a reason to laugh and have fun, even when you were scared.”

“Enough,” Jack snapped as his eyes hardened once more “I’m not the Jack you know, we are two completely different people.” 

“but yet you’re still same, the same fears, the same wishes,” North said as he got to his feet “even in our world, all you’ve ever wanted a friend. Someone to laugh and have fun with, but that can’t happen if you keep doing this, Jack.” 

Jack swallowed as his hands clenched tightly “I have friends,” he whispered, but deep down he knew it wasn’t true. He scared off most people that he knew, even before he became like this. Everyone associated winter with death, and was scared of him because of that. 

“Name one friend that you have here,” North asked gently. 

Jack blinked before he looked around the room, he wasn’t friends with his guardians, they were enemies after all. He thought of all the spirits that he had come into contact with over his lifetime, the closest one he had come to be friends with was Jack-O, or the Jack O Lantern, who was a big spirit around Halloween. Even that fell out after a while and they weren’t friends anymore. He gave a sigh “what’s your point?” he asked, his voice was even softer than before. 

“you have friends in our world, not just us but you made friends with the other seasonal spirits.” North said, he assumed that he was slowly getting to Jack “You might have been alone at first, but in our world you’ll never be alone again.”

Jack’s eyes widened, the silver flashed the familiar blue of the Jack they were used to before their world once again went black. 

OoO

Jackyln, or Jackie, was sitting on the roof of Jamie's house, she held her icy blue comb in one hand and was brushing her extremely long white hair. Her hair was tied back into a high ponytail that went down her back, stopping just above her hips. She had to brush it often so it didn't get tangled, she would have even chopped if off if she wasn't so attached to it. She ran the comb through it once more before she braided it, wrapping it a couple times around her head to create what was called a 'braid crown' and froze it so it didn't get into her face. She gave a smile and slipped the comb into the pocket of her blue sweater before standing up, her bare feet left small prints in on the roof. Grabbing the hood of her blue sweater she pulled it up to cover her hair than brushed off her brown shorts before picking up the staff that was leaning against the chimney that was next to her. 

Jackie glanced over as a flash of light lit up the street, her blue eyes narrowed as she pressed against the brick of the chimney. She peeked around the corner and watched the newcomers as they walked down the street. She vaguely heard one of them mention not to piss of some guy named Frostbite. She tilted her head slightly in confusion before moving further out to get a better look, she saw four people walking down the street. She paled instantly as she recognized them as the Guardians. She watched them for a few more seconds, at least until one of them pointed her out. That caused her to push of the chimney and flee. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited the last part with Fem!Jack, I feel that this would be a better way to introduce the next chapter and would also be much easier to write. 
> 
> ~Brii


	6. Jacklyn Frost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I apologize for taking so long, I've had writers block as well as college homework and stuffs like that. This chapter is much shorter than the others because I couldn't think of anything else to do.**
> 
>  
> 
> **I'm going to try something fun! *cheers***
> 
>  
> 
> **I haven't said what was wrong with Jack yet, because I want you to guess! First person to guess, correctly, what is wrong with Jack before the next chapter is up will get a one-shot with the pairing of their choice! *throws confetti* and please be specific, don't just say 'brain damage', I'm looking for things like 'memory loss' or 'he's in a coma'**

Jacklyn jumped and dodged around several chimneys and houses as she tried to lose the four guardians that were chasing her, she didn’t understand why they were after her considering she hadn’t been causing trouble worthy of their notice. Her blue eyes flickered behind her to see if they were still there before she ran into something; she let out a soft yelp as she landed on her backside, looking to see a brick wall in front of her. Of course she would run into a wall, with a soft curse she slowly got to her feet and turned around, only to find the guardians were standing at the entrance. Her staff instantly went up with the crook pointed towards them “Don’t move!” she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. 

“Jack, it’s alright,” The Tooth fairy said with a gentle smile as she held up her hands. 

“My name’s Jacklyn,” Jacklyn said softly as she tightened her grip on the staff “Why are you guys here? You normally don’t come out of your homes unless a spirit has done something wrong, and I assure you that I haven’t hurt anyone.” 

“What?” North asked in confusion, why would they only come out then? 

Jacklyn ignored North's confusion as she thought of the last incident "Is this about that boy with the sled?" she asked "I really didn't mean to hurt him, it was all in good fun!" 

“No, you didn’t hurt Jamie in the sledding accident,” Toothiana said as she shook her head, her brightly colored feathers ruffling slightly “We just came to talk to you, have a friendly talk about some spirits in this world. One’s that I’m sure you’re more familiar with than us.” 

Jacklyn tilted her head before lowering her staff “Is this about that boy, because Jack’O didn’t mean to hurt him.” She said as she leaned against the wood “and he recovered! So there really isn’t a reason to hurt him…..right?”

“We’re not here for the Jack ‘O Lantern either, we just want to talk to you, Jacklyn,” North said as he slowly approached the girl. 

“you’ve never had to talk to me before,” Jacklyn said softly as her blue eyes flickered between the four guardians in front of her “So if I haven’t done anything wrong, then why do you want to talk to me?” 

“you’re making this very difficult, Frostbite!” Aster said as he crossed his arms “We will explain when we get to Santoff Clausen.” 

“You expect me to trust you,” Jacklyn asked as her eyes flickered over to the Pooka “After everything you’ve done to me, _Pooka_ , you’ll have to try better than that. Now, leave me alone!” her grip tightened on her staff before the wind lifted her into the air and out of the alleyway. She heard them call after her but she ignored them, she had enough with the guardians and how above everyone else they seemed to think they were. She let out a sigh of frustration, which caused a small flurry of snow to cover the ground beneath her.

Jacklyn flew to Antarctica, she found comfort in the frozen wasteland that she tended to call home more than that lake in Burgress. She landed on a cliff and looked out across the frozen ocean, the cold was calming to her. She reached up and broke the ice from the braid crown she had her hair in originally, once it was down it slowly came out of the braid she had it in. She looked up at the sky, her eyes studying the white fluffy clouds before her hair was suddenly in her face, she laughed and brushed it aside “Wind, stop it!” she said, and her hair soon stopped flapping but she continued to stare at it. She ran her fingers through it before giving a nod and creating a knife of ice, it was shaper than a normal knife so it should do the job. She reached behind her head and gripped her ponytail, she took a deep breath before cutting it off. Her hair fell down around her face since it was no longer long or held it up by the ponytail, her bangs fell to her chin with the back a lot shorter. The mortals called it a reverse bob if she remembered correctly. 

Jacklyn felt the wind curl around her shoulders “I know,” she said as she looked down at the long ponytail she still had clutched in her hand “but it’s better this way, besides, it’ll be easier to fly without it getting caught in everything. I’m trying to make it so the guardians don’t recognize me anymore.” She glanced down at her outfit, the blue sweater would have to go. She smiled and laid her ponytail down on the snow “Wind, take me to Canada, we’re going shopping.” 

OoO

Jacklyn walked down the street, her blue sweater had been exchanged with a white hooded cowl sweater dress and black leggings. She was sad to see her previous outfit go but there was nothing she could do about it, she would have abandoned her staff as well if she didn’t need it to use her powers. She chewed on her lip in thought, was there a way to make her staff smaller so she could wear it around her neck or even a bracelet. She gave a smile, she had a friend that was skilled with magic that might have been able to help with her problem. If it didn’t work than the spell would be easy to reverse, since Mother Nature was the best at all seasonal magic. 

Mother Nature wasn’t hard to find for a seasonal spirit, she lived in the Rainforests and normally came when called. Jacklyn landed gently in the clearing, making sure she kept a tight grip on her powers so she didn’t kill the environment “Mother!” she called out into the thick forest “It’s Jacklyn, I need help!”

“what do you need help with, dear child?” Mother Nature said as she stepped out of the trees, she took one look at the winter spirits new appearance and gasped “what have you done to yourself?”

Jacklyn looked over her shoulder and gave a small smile “The guardians are after me,” she said softly as she brushed what was left of her bangs behind an ear “I’m changing my appearance so I can hide better from them, but my staff still gives me away. I was hoping to change it into something smaller like a bracelet, that way I can still use it to conduct my powers but it’s not notiable.” 

Mother Nature smiled before taking the wooden staff from her winter daughter “I can’t change your staff, but I can create a new power source for you to use,” she explained as she set the staff to the side, she took Jacklyn’s right hand and focused her powers. When she pulled back her powers left a silver slave bracelet on the girls hand. It hand a glittering snowflake that rested on the top of the pale wrist with a chain that extended from it down the back of the hand, with a couple smaller snowflakes, before the chain wrapped around the winter spirits middle finger in a ring. “It is only temporary, it will last only long enough for the Guardians to stop looking for you,” she said gently as she handed the staff back to the girl “Hide this in a place where you trust it, and if you lose it your powers are gone.”

“Can I leave it here with you?” Jacklyn asked as she looked at her staff “I trust it nowhere else but here with you if you are willing to look out for it.” 

“I would be more than happy to, dear child,” Mother Nature said as she pulled her winter daughter into a hug “Now go and be careful, try to blend in with the mortals even if they can’t see you.”

Jacklyn nodded before taking a breath “Wind, take me to Burgess,” she said before she was launched into the air, it was weird for her to be flying without her staff but she knew she would be fine as long as she was wearing the bracelet. 

OoO

Jacklyn landed in Burgess and wrung her hands nervously, she knew this would be the first place that the Guardians would look for her but with her new appearance it wouldn’t be as easy. She pulled up the hood of her sweater dress to cover her white hair and started walking, being careful to avoid the mortals since they would just walk through her. She left her hands hanging at her sides, since she didn’t have any more pockets to tuck them into, as she kept an eye out for the guardians. It wasn’t long before she saw Sanderson flying overhead on a cloud of sand, but she didn’t make any motion to look up at him since it would give her away. She had been right in assuming that they knew she would remain here in the small town. 

Jacklyn turned down a street, but unlike the last one this was empty. She glanced over her shoulder before she continued walking, her bare feet making no noise on the sidewalk as she walked. It was then that she realized how horribly wrong her idea had been to separate, the mortals were wearing shoes and coats, while it was warm enough for just a sweater like she was wearing, they all wore shoes no matter how hot or cold it was. She sighed softly but continued walking anyway, just waiting for the guardians to come for her once again. 

Jacklyn turned to look over her shoulder, her eyes locking momentarily on the guardians that were talking on the other side of the street. She turned forward again before ducking down an alleyway, she had wanted to avoid them but she needed to get to the heavier populated place. The guardians wouldn’t dare take her out with humans around, even if they can’t see them. 

While she was walking, she went over all the recent things that could possibly get the guardians after her, they were bounty hunters after all, they took out the spirits that actively and purposefully harm humans on a daily basis. Sure she caused a few deaths, but they weren’t on purpose and they weren’t that often, she wasn’t going to be making a habit of killing people. Jacklyn sighed softly, the guardians had no reason to come after her, she had done nothing wrong to gather their attention to her. She finally looked up from the ground only to find that her body had automatically led her to the lake she died in, she gave a small smile before stepping out onto the ice. It hardened even more underneath her bare feet as she slowly walked towards the center of the lake. She lifted her head, her gaze locking on the bright full moon above her head “Call off your dogs, Manny,” she said as she put her hands on her hips “I’ve done nothing wrong to make your bounty hunters come after me!” 

“Bounty hunters?” 

Jacklyn’s eyes widened before she turned, the guardians were standing on the shore of her land “Yes, bounty hunters, that’s what you guys are right,” she said as she looked between them “You go after and take out any spirit that Manny deems to be too dangerous to continue living, you took out Pitch Black a couple years ago after he tried to take over the world, and before that Analia the Water spirit that enjoyed drowning people in her lake. That’s why you’ve been following me isn’t it, I did something to end up on Manny’s radar and he told you guys to take me out.” 

“Ah, I see where the confusion happened,” Toothiana said before flying over to Jacklyn “This is going to sound really strange, but we’re not…your….guardians, we’re actually from a different timeline with our own Jack.” 

“You expect me to believe that?” Jacklyn asked as she watched Toothiana with a frown, but even now she could tell the small differences that she hadn’t noticed before. Like how Toothiana didn’t have her swords tied to her hips like she always did, or how none of them had the official tattoo of the Bounty Hunters that they had always worn proudly. She let out a sigh as her gaze went to the ground, she reached up and pulled the white hood down “Let’s say I do believe you, then what are you doing in my timeline?” 

“We believe it’s Manny’s doing, each timeline seems to have a different version of you.” North explained gently “In our timeline, you are a male and the Guardian of fun. In the timeline we’ve been to, you’ve been human, evil and now female.” 

Jacklyn looked over at North “and how do you switch timelines?” she asked curiously, their story as unbelievable as it was, it would explain why they had been following her. 

“we have to realize something, it’s hard to explain but it’s what we assume at the moment,” Toothiana said with a smile “ but you’re really pretty as a girl, but I still prefer our Jack over all the others we’ve seen before.” 

Jacklyn looked over at Toothiana “How come?” she asked as she tilted her head slightly. 

“Because he’s ours,” Toothiana said gently, shortly after she said it Jacklyn’s entire body flickered. 

“I think you solved the puzzle for this world, Toothy,” North said as the Tooth Fairy flew over to them, Jacklyns gaze followed her but she said nothing else until the world went dark once again. 

OoO

Aster gasped as he was sudden in a new surroundings, he let out a yelp as he was forced to dodge the swing of Pitch’s scythe. He instantly recognized the fight as their fight against Pitch back in 2012. He gave a smirk before he saw Jack shoot forward with his frost lightning attack, he seemed to be perfectly normal in this timeline so it made him wonder what was different and why it started now. His problem was soon answered when Pitch attacked Jack, the frost spirit slammed into the ground with a pained yelp that tore the Pooka’s heart in half, before Frost remained limp where he had fallen, blood pooling from the back of his head where it had slammed into the ground. “Jack!” Aster heard Toothiana yell before Pitch was suddenly swarmed by all four guardians, the rest of the battle didn’t last very long and they were soon crowded around the still unconscious spirit. 

North gently reached down and picked Jack up “we need to get him back to pole,” he said, noting mentally how light the winter spirit “Bunny, if you can open a portal to the globe room.” 

Aster nodded before tapping his foot against the ground, creating a fairly large hole that allowed them all through to the pole. They needed to figure out what was going to happen to this Jack before they can worry about how they can return home. 


End file.
